Just under a month ago I wrote an article about starting my journey on producing virtual performances on Final Cut Pro X. This Saturday will see the premier performance of my first full virtual choir production. If I said it had been straightforward it would be a lie, but if you asked me if I had learned from this experience I would say definitely. Of course I have learned a lot about using Final Cut Pro and the amazing things that are possible, and are still yet possible, but the process has taught me so much more about people and about myself.
First it started with the idea. The song ‘Believe’ by Lin Marsh is about how we can achieve anything in life if we believe in ourselves. As such, it is normally sung by primary school children in assemblies throughout the country. Something that isn’t allowed to take place right now. When you are faced with losing that one thing that has helped you feel of some worth since the age of 8, you dig deep for resilience that will allow you to continue. I felt that the song’s words carried a message of hope and encouragement for me and for many during this time of pandemic.
Then, there was the process of creating a track to sing along to and building a choir. Making the track on Garage Band was in itself a journey. I have used this software to produce piano backing tracks for singers to practice with, but I have never used it to produce a track that would be the back bone of a virtual performance. It had to be something that would be good enough to support the singers through this process, but more than that, it had to be able to stand on its own.
Building a choir during a pandemic that bans singing has been interesting. Although there have been many wonderful people attending my Zoom choir sessions, there have also been many of my regular choir members who have fallen away for now. For some Zoom is too strange, too intrusive an experience. Inviting people into your home through a camera can be an uncomfortable idea, let alone singing out loud on your own with your loved ones in the house. I have learned that the break out rooms on Zoom were just as important, if not more important, than the singing.
Then there is the next step of standing alone in your living room with headphones on, singing along to the track whilst videoing yourself. Recently I went on a course where we talked about ‘circles’ of comfort, stretch and panic. One of the hypothetical questions posed was ‘how would you feel if a group of friends were supposed to join to sing at a birthday party but everyone ducked out at the last minute and you were left alone to sing in public?’. For me, I felt happy in the comfort zone, but most of the 50 other people put themselves in the panic zone. So, as musical director my role has not only been to teach the notes but to help some out of the panic zone into the stretch zone and to build trust. The chorus of the song helped. ‘I can do anything at all, I can climb the highest mountain’.
What I learned from this was that sometimes people need someone to help them. Someone to hold the video camera for you. Someone to tell you that you can do it. Someone to believe in you. I also have learned how wonderful people are. How their lives have been affected during this pandemic. How they have coped. How they have struggled and how my life is enriched by them.
Having collected the singing recordings and snippets of video that showed choir members doing the things that they love, I then had the job of putting this all together. It had its challenges. The day my whole project just disappeared was a bad one! I had to start again. But the second time around I felt better ‘equipped’ to do things. Then there were those who were there to encourage me, show me what to do and help me believe in myself. I have learned a lot from my friends Gerard and Kate and also Horst from Apple Support who helped me move from my panic zone to my stretch zone.
So on Saturday the video will be part of our virtual summer concert. Like this blog, it will not be perfect and I will no doubt think of the things I would have tweaked if I had more time and knew more. However, whatever its faults, it will reflect the beauty and ‘wonderfulness’ of all those involved.
I don’t know how long virtual choir performances will stand on their own as musical forms. I guess that will depend on when we can go back to singing safely together. What I do know is that people will always face challenges and will need to adapt and grow through them. I know that music and words have the power to help us through the challenges. I also know that as Lin’s lyrics state ‘with friends around to care, there is nothing I can’t handle, and I’ll face the future treasuring each day’.